International Musicological Conference
22 - 24 May 2009
New Zealand School of Music
Wellington, NZ
Joseph Haydn: Forms of Expression
>From the second part of the eighteenth century through its cusp, the topic of expression arose frequently when music was in the air. Not only did expression seem to embody the very essence of the art, but in its various forms it could mesh with many goals  from the provision of simple pleasure to the revelation of soul and self. As musicians cultivated different genres and styles, they considered the range of expressions available to them, from humour and wit, through elegance, up to pathetic and sublime heights, and, once arrived, back again through their many admixtures, overlaps, and convergences. Composers explored different modes of expressions as they aged and as their careers turned. Performers embodied and enhanced the expressions of music, at times through sheer performative presence, at times through well-considered ornamentation. And, of course, music expressed more than words could say. It expressed intractable issues of belonging and culture, otherwise so diffic
ult t
o articulate.
This conference is devoted to Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), a composer whose music was an epitome of expression for many of the time, and a composer who took at times a cue, at times his distance from the forms of expression cultivated by his contemporaries. No less, through performances and scholarship, the conference celebrates the diverse forms of musical expression that take place at the New Zealand School of Music and around Wellington.
Keynote Speakers: Richard Will (University of Virginia) and W. Dean Sutcliffe (University of Auckland).
Conference organized by Keith Chapin (New Zealand School of Music).
For a programme, registration and hotel information, please go to the conference website:
http://www.nzsm.ac.nz/events/Haydn%202009.aspx